It was the regular-season finale featuring rivals with a recent history of competitively even finishes, but early on Wednesday it was a relative newcomer who provided the difference.

Memorial High School freshman Meghan Day scored the first half's only goal — the first time either the sixth-ranked Tigers or eighth-ranked Reitz found the net since their 2006 meeting — and her team held on for a 2-1 victory over the Panthers on Wednesday night at EVSC Fields.

With the win, the Tigers (14-2 overall, 7-0 conference) secured the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference championship in closing out the regular season, their first outright title since 2002 after sharing it with Reitz the past two years.

All of that history was new to, but not lost on, Day.

"I just knew that this was going to be our biggest game because of camps we went to and then talk from the upperclassmen," said Day, who watched last year's 0-0 tie against Reitz as an eighth-grader (two years ago, the teams played to a 1-1 finish). "They said it was going to be hard and aggressive and an intense game."

They were right. Neither team took control early, and the hard-fought first half remained scoreless until the final five minutes. That's when Alex Kixmiller's corner kick deflected off a teammate's head and on to Day, who put it away.

Senior Susan Ellsperman added Memorial's second goal 14 minutes into the second half.

But it was Reitz that controlled much of the play in the second half, scoring its first goal less than two minutes later when Taylor Adkins redirected a cross from Kelsey Schmitt into the back of the net.

The Panthers (13-4, 6-1) couldn't quite come up with the equalizer, though, once hitting the crossbar with a header and narrowly missing high and wide with several shots.

"They were definitely dominating offensively the second half and we were doing everything we could to just slow them down," Memorial coach Angie Lensing said. "I just feel that we were lucky to come out ahead ... especially after the last couple of years have been tie, tie."

Day guaranteed this one wouldn't be a scoreless tie. Her positioning when the ball came free provided her with the first goal and a memorable introduction to the Memorial/Reitz clash, and the win was a final salvo for one championship.

"It felt good. This is our last game," she said.

At least until next week's sectional, in which the Tigers will try to erase the bad memories of last year's early exit.